Top 10 Influential Australian Men Of 2015

You'll Want To Take A Cue (Or Two) From The 10 Most Influential Australian Men Of 2015

AskMen has offices all around the world, with their own teams of local editors determined to bring you the content that matters to your life. To complement this year's Boss List, AskMen Australia has assembled their own list of ten influential Australians. It says something about Australia that their most influential men come from all walks of life. In this list there are politicians and activists, sportsmen and filmmakers, actors and prisoners. There’s something about our egalitarianism that means we’re not afraid to find inspiration in the most obscure of places. No matter where they were from or what they did, these Australians captured our imagination in 2015, challenging and emboldening us to be better men, helping to build a better society. We salute you, gents.

Liam Hemsworth (Actor)

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2015 was the year Liam Hemsworth finally clawed his way out from under big brother Chris’s shadow (Liam was actually beaten to the lead of Thor by Chris). And it was overdue too: his profile has simmered since starring opposite former girlfriend Miley Cyrus in 2010’s The Last Song. Only now, with the release of The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2, has it well and truly exploded. Right now he’s arguably the most bankable of Hollywood’s legion of Aussie stars.

Johnathan Thurston (Rugby League Player)

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Johnathan Thurston could’ve moved on from Townsville long ago. But for a decade league’s best player maintained faith with the North Queensland Cowboys. The reward finally came this year when the Cowboys for the first time won the National Rugby League Premiership (it was Thurston’s second, after winning with the Bulldogs in 2004). And of course it was Thurston who carried the team on his back, kicking a drop goal in the 82nd minute to edge out the Brisbane Broncos. A Golden Boot Award hardly seems enough to mark his remarkable contribution to the game in 2015.

Myuran Sukumaran & Andrew Chan

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Australia mourned when Sukumaran and Chan, the reformed Bali Nine drug traffickers, were put to death, pawns in a game of Indonesian political grandstanding.

You could argue Sukumaran and Chan make this list for all the wrong reasons. That we remember them simply because they’re no longer with us. But that would be ignoring how inspirational they were in the face of a politically-driven fate, their enterprise treasured comfort for a nation that felt so hopeless. Both befriended Archibald-winner Ben Quilty, Sukumaran becoming a gifted protege of the Australian artist, while Chan’s spirituality was a source of strength for his fellow prisoners. No matter how you cut it, the way these two faced their fate — with determined grace and solidarity — was heartening even as it was heartbreaking.

David Pocock (Rugby Player)

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Australia’s best — and certainly its fairest — rugby player made a stunning comeback in 2015.

For a while it looked like David Pocock was finished, Australia’s best rugby player more or less sidelined from the game for two years. But in 2015 the Brumbies flanker made a remarkable comeback, forcing his way back into the Wallabies run-on squad and teaming with fellow breakaway Michael Hooper to form a new dual-openside era for the Australian national team.

But perhaps overshadowing all of this is Pocock’s deeds off the field. A keen human rights activist, Pocock talks loudest when it’s about the plight of those less fortunate than himself, even calling out politicians on Twitter when he feels the need. His return to top-flight footy seems to have helped soften egos in the Australian squad, bringing a new sense of humility that has shown in better performances both on the park and off it.

Michael Clarke (Cricketer)

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One of Australian cricket’s most divisive characters rose above last summer to cement his name among the greats.

Yes, it was last year that Michael Clarke was called upon to carry the captain’s load following the tragic on-field death of star Australian batsman Phil Hughes. But the way Clarke steeled himself for the entire 2014-15 summer was hugely impressive. The painful experience of losing close friend Hughes seemed to finally cast Clarke in the captain’s role he’d previously only imitated. A lesser team with a lesser skipper would have fallen apart; instead, the Australians and Clarke knuckled down, dismantling India in a four-test series and taking out the Triangular one-day series before going on to win their fifth ICC Cricket World Cup title.

George Miller (Filmmaker)

Over 36 years George Miller has already given so much to Australian film, so it’s no small achievement that Mad Max: Fury Road might in fact be his crowning achievement. A relentless road movie (without a road) featuring minimal dialogue and a stack of powerful female characters, this felt like a paradigm shift for action movies (or maybe just the genre distilled down to its purest elements, wide screened with a Hollywood budget). But it also proved there is room at the box office for Australian films, if we’re prepared to play to the audience’s demands (all sequelism aside). That was perhaps Fury Road’s defining quality.

Mick Fanning (Surfer)

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The champion Australian became a household name worldwide after having to fight for his life on the South African coast.

Fanning may have squandered the chance to wrap up his fourth surfing world title in Portugal last month, but the 34-year-old surfer’s mettle will never again be questioned after he was called upon to fend away a shark during the J-Bay Open World Surf League event in South Africa mid-year. What experts assumed was a great white knocked Fanning from his board, breaking his leg-rope, the Australian forced to fight off the beast by kicking and punching it in the back. Fanning said at the time that he was “happy to not even compete ever again. Seriously, to walk away from that, I'm just so stoked.” But he did more than that. Fanning got back in the water. And he’s still in contention for the 2015 World Title. What a hero.

Jarryd Hayne (NFL Player)

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For ten weeks Jarryd Hayne was the talk of Australian sport, the former rugby league international debuting for the San Francisco 49ers.

And for a while things went famously: in a pre-season match against the Houston Texans, Hayne completed a 53-yard run on his second touch of the ball. Suddenly Australia was interested, news about the running back permanently trending across social media, Channel 7 making that most Australian of broadcasting decisions by picking up all of Hayne’s 49ers games.

Yes, you could cut it a negative way — that this was cultural cringe on a grand scale. But there’s no denying Hayne’s achievement, crossing over to a code in a foreign country that has a college feeder system boasting over 70,000 athletes. The ‘Hayne Plane’ may have been grounded with his relegation to the 49ers’ practice squad, but that doesn’t dent what is already a mighty achievement.

Waleed Aly (Activist, Laywer, TV Host)

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Waleed Aly has been fighting the good fight for years, as a pro bono human rights lawyer, head of public affairs for the Islamic Council of Victoria, and a commentator for the ABC and Fairfax newspapers.

Most recently Aly has helped reinvigorate Channel 10’s The Project, the host expert in delivering in simple terms the most enlightened of ideas. It came to a head on November 16 during a monologue regarding that month’s Paris terrorist attacks. Aly’s cold, hard logic about the weakness of ISIL and the importance of unity went viral around the world, lending momentum to a movement that seeks to quell the backlash against everyday, moderate Muslims. The modern world seems in a hopeless state until people like Aly stand up to be counted.

Malcolm Turnbull (Australian Prime Minister)

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Turnbull’s return to the top job of his party, and now the country, caps a stunning comeback for the man so abruptly deposed in 2009. But more than that, Turnbull has managed to change the entire tone of Australian politics. Gone is the Abbott era’s ultra right-wing intolerance and focus on wedge issues, replaced by a quiet and reasoned centrism that has stabilized political debate and re-energized everyday Australians’ faith in their own democratic system.